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Erica van der Sijpt

University of Amsterdam, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Post-Doc

New York University, Department of Social Anthropology, Visiting scholar

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I studied Cultural Anthropology at the Radboud University in Nijmegen (the Netherlands) and specialized in Medical Anthropology at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. My research interests cover issues related to reproductive health, uncertainties, and decision-making. For my MA, I studied ideas and practices around pregnancy loss and induced abortion in eastern Cameroon. After (cum laude) graduation in August 2005, I completed the Research Masters in African Studies at Leiden University, while I also worked as a supervisor of BA theses at Radboud University.

In September 2006, I started my Ph.D. trajectory at the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Resarch (AISSR). My Ph.D. research built upon my MA research in Cameroon. It addressed the experiences and decision-making processes around reproductive loss. I defended my thesis (cum laude) in November 2011.

In 2012, I received a VENI grant (€250,000) from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) for a self-designed post-doctoral research project on reproductive health, loss, uncertainty, and decision-making in Central Romania. In addition, between October 2016 and July 2017, I coordinated an evaluation project for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, assessing the effectiveness of a number of (inter)national programmes targeting sexual and reproductive health issues all over the world.

For over a decade, I have also taught different medical anthropological courses in the Netherlands and abroad - including at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the Netherlands School of Public and Occupational Health, and the GGD Academy.

Currently, my professional life is filled with activities related to research and analysis, writing and publishing, as well as teaching and supervision. For more information, see www.ericavandersijpt.com.

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Papers by Erica van der Sijpt

Reproductive losses: challenges to LGBTQ family-making

Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 2019

"Soothing My Child's Soul and My Own": Dealing with Pregnancy Loss in Postcommunist Romania

In Romania—where induced abortions were legally prohibited during communism and are now morally c... more In Romania—where induced abortions were legally prohibited during communism and are now morally condemned by many—those who lose a pregnancy against their will have long been regarded with suspicion, confronted with a sense of culpability, and surrounded by silence. This ambiguity is reflected in the local terminology and the perceived etiology of loss. In this article, which is based on 15 months of fieldwork between 2012 and 2015, I illustrate the various meanings and manifestations of a silenced sense of culpability around involuntary pregnancy loss in the lives of women from Bucharest and a small town in Central Romania. I also show how many of these women attempt to break the silence around their lost fetuses and carve out a personal space of commemoration and consolation. Their informal use of forbidden religious rituals paradoxically allows them to confirm the existence of their lost little ones and to position themselves as caring, rather than culpable, mothers.

The pain and pride of 'angel mothers': Disappointments and desires around reproductive loss in Romania

In this article, I highlight how Romanian women make sense of the losses of pregnancies and babie... more In this article, I highlight how Romanian women make sense of the losses of pregnancies and babies. Based on 15 months of fieldwork in a Transylvanian town, and on interviews with and observations among ‘angel mothers’ (women who have lost unborn or live-born children) in the Romanian capital Bucharest, I discuss the disappointments and desires that surface when reproduction goes awry. The criticisms of these ‘angel mothers’ throw into sharp relief wider disappointments with biomedical, political, and religious establishments, and continuing social struggles in post-communist Romania. Although women’s personal predicaments are thus deeply connected to broader structural shortcomings, their coping strategies are highly intimate and non-political. Women focus on creating a spiritual bond between themselves and their lost babies – one that transcends the hardships of earthly life and makes women proud to be the mothers of little angels.

'Passing children’ and precarious pathways: on the contingency of reproductive life courses in Cameroon

Pregnancy pragmatics unveiled: on bodies, bellies and power in Cameroon

Book review 'Abortion in Asia: Local Dilemmas, Global Politics'

Hiding or hospitalising? On dilemmas of pregnancy management in East Cameroon

The unfortunate sufferer: discursive dynamics around pregnancy loss in Cameroon

Complexities and contingencies conceptualized: towards a model of reproductive navigation

Current international attention to reproductive health behaviour is inspired by a western celebra... more Current international attention to reproductive health behaviour is inspired by a western celebration of individual rights, autonomous action and rational choice. A predominant idea is that individuals should be free to act in accordance with their reproductive intentions and that, in doing so, they will attain their desired (and quantifiable) fertility outcomes. Yet such a framework leads to a misrepresentation of the reproductive dynamics on the ground, because individual fertility intentions are often not a priori defined, decisions are often not the result of rational calculation and reproductive happenings do not exist in a social vacuum. This article provides sociocultural evidence for a different conceptualisation of reproductive health behaviour. On the basis of long-term anthropological fieldwork in the East Province of Cameroon, I will analyse the complexities of fertility-related decision-making. Two case studies from the field will show that reproductive happenings are often characterised by indeterminacy and contingency. In order to understand the complex ways in which women give direction to these uncertainties, I propose an encompassing framework of reproductive navigation that explicitly acknowledges the influence of sociality and corporeality on fertility aspirations and actions.

Focusing on force and forms: reproductive loss reconsidered

Dissertation review ‘The gift of cure. Childbirth injuries, clinical structures, and religious subjects in Ethiopia’

‘The vagina does not talk’: conception concealed or deliberately disclosed in Cameroon

In the East Province of Cameroon, respectable womanhood has long been intrinsically related to et... more In the East Province of Cameroon, respectable womanhood has long been intrinsically related to ethics of production and reproduction: women attain social standing through productive work in the fields and through the reproduction of children – preferably within a marital setting. Yet, in the face of current alternative ‘horizons of honour’ such as schooling, employment or relationships with rich urban men, women's intentions with regard to marriage and motherhood acquire different meanings. On their pathways to urban forms of honour, formal engagements and childbearing are often postponed, while premarital sexual encounters proliferate. This paper explores the meanings of pregnancy within the context of these fragile relationships and women's urban aspirations; fertility will be shown to be a ‘bet’ that may either disrupt or stabilize urban affairs and ambitions. As such, pregnancies can be strategically anticipated and deliberately disclosed or unexpectedly encountered and secretly disrupted. This paper sheds light on women's strategies of concealment and disclosure of pregnancies and shows that these practices are often inspired by a notion of the ‘right timing’ of particular reproductive conjunctures – a notion that is of increasing relevance in current frames of female honour in Cameroon.Dans la Province de l'Est au Cameroun, la féminité respectable est depuis longtemps intrinsèquement liée à l'éthique de la production et de la reproduction: les femmes obtiennent un statut social en travaillant de manière efficace dans les champs et en faisant des enfants – les deux, de préférence dans le cadre du mariage. Pourtant, face aux alternatives existantes pour atteindre «les horizons de l'honneur», comme la scolarité, l'emploi ou des relations avec des hommes riches dans les villes, les intentions des femmes en ce qui concerne le mariage et la maternité prennent des significations différentes. Sur la voie des définitions urbaines de l'honneur, les fiançailles formelles et la maternité sont souvent différées, alors que les rencontres sexuelles pré-maritales sont de plus en plus fréquentes. Cet article explore les significations de la grossesse dans ces contextes de relations fragiles et d'aspirations liées à la ville des femmes; il sera montré que la grossesse est un «pari» pouvant, soit perturber, soit stabiliser les liaisons ou les «ambitions urbaines». À ce titre, les grossesses peuvent être stratégiquement anticipées et délibérément dévoilées, ou se présenter de manière inattendue et être secrètement interrompues. Cet article apporte un éclairage sur les stratégies employées par les femmes pour cacher et dévoiler leurs grossesses, et montre que ces pratiques s'inspirent souvent d'une notion de «moment adéquat» pour les circonstances reproductives particulières – une notion qui est d'une pertinence croissante au regard des conceptions actuelles de l'honneur féminin au Cameroun.En la provincia este de Camerún, la condición de mujer respetable ha estado durante mucho tiempo intrínsecamente relacionada con la ética de la producción y la reproducción: las mujeres alcanzan su posición social mediante el trabajo productivo en los campos y a través de la reproducción de hijos, ambos preferiblemente dentro del matrimonio. Sin embargo, ante los actuales ‘horizontes de honor’ alternativos tales como la escuela, el empleo o las relaciones con hombres ricos de la ciudad, las intenciones de las mujeres con respecto al matrimonio y la maternidad adquieren significados diferentes. En sus trayectorias hacia formas urbanas de honor, muchas veces se posponen los compromisos formales y la maternidad mientras que proliferan los encuentros sexuales antes del matrimonio. En este artículo analizamos los significados de embarazo en el contexto de estas relaciones frágiles y las aspiraciones urbanas de las mujeres; demostramos que la fertilidad es una ‘apuesta’ que puede perturbar o estabilizar las aventuras y ambiciones en un ámbito urbano. Por este motivo, es posible que las mujeres anticipen estratégicamente los embarazos y los revelen deliberadamente, o bien que se queden embarazadas de modo inesperado e interrumpan los embarazos en secreto. En este artículo arrojamos luz sobre las estrategias de las mujeres a la hora de ocultar o revelar los embarazos y mostramos que estas prácticas están muchas veces inspiradas por la noción del ‘momento correcto’ en las coyunturas de reproducción, una noción que es cada vez más relevante en los actuales esquemas del honor femenino en Camerún.

Marginal matters: Pregnancy loss as a social event

Perils to pregnancies: on social sorrows and strategies surrounding pregnancy loss in Cameroon

This article explores the local perceptions and practices surrounding pregnancy loss in Cameroon—... more This article explores the local perceptions and practices surrounding pregnancy loss in Cameroon—a topic that has long been neglected in international reproductive health debates. Based on extended periods of anthropological fieldwork in an urban and a rural setting in the East province of the country, it shows the inherent ambiguities that underlie pregnancies and their perceived dangers. By situating meanings of pregnancy loss within the complex dynamics of marriage and kinship, pregnant bodies are argued to be social bodies—the actions and interpretations of which shift along with social situations. This approach not only forms an alternative to the current focus on the body politic in global discourses on fertility risks but also shows how conventional assumptions such as the rigid distinction between voluntary and involuntary pregnancy loss distort ambiguous daily life realities for Cameroonian women whose pregnancies are not being carried to term.

Filling with force: reproductive loss reconsidered

Introduction: medical anthropology in the Netherlands

Book review ‘Secret strategies: women and abortion in Yoruba society, Nigeria’

Zwangerschapspraktijken in Kameroen

Marginal motherhood. The ambiguous experience of pregnancy-loss in Cameroon

De buitenlander, een ander?

Reproductive losses: challenges to LGBTQ family-making

Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 2019

"Soothing My Child's Soul and My Own": Dealing with Pregnancy Loss in Postcommunist Romania

In Romania—where induced abortions were legally prohibited during communism and are now morally c... more In Romania—where induced abortions were legally prohibited during communism and are now morally condemned by many—those who lose a pregnancy against their will have long been regarded with suspicion, confronted with a sense of culpability, and surrounded by silence. This ambiguity is reflected in the local terminology and the perceived etiology of loss. In this article, which is based on 15 months of fieldwork between 2012 and 2015, I illustrate the various meanings and manifestations of a silenced sense of culpability around involuntary pregnancy loss in the lives of women from Bucharest and a small town in Central Romania. I also show how many of these women attempt to break the silence around their lost fetuses and carve out a personal space of commemoration and consolation. Their informal use of forbidden religious rituals paradoxically allows them to confirm the existence of their lost little ones and to position themselves as caring, rather than culpable, mothers.

The pain and pride of 'angel mothers': Disappointments and desires around reproductive loss in Romania

In this article, I highlight how Romanian women make sense of the losses of pregnancies and babie... more In this article, I highlight how Romanian women make sense of the losses of pregnancies and babies. Based on 15 months of fieldwork in a Transylvanian town, and on interviews with and observations among ‘angel mothers’ (women who have lost unborn or live-born children) in the Romanian capital Bucharest, I discuss the disappointments and desires that surface when reproduction goes awry. The criticisms of these ‘angel mothers’ throw into sharp relief wider disappointments with biomedical, political, and religious establishments, and continuing social struggles in post-communist Romania. Although women’s personal predicaments are thus deeply connected to broader structural shortcomings, their coping strategies are highly intimate and non-political. Women focus on creating a spiritual bond between themselves and their lost babies – one that transcends the hardships of earthly life and makes women proud to be the mothers of little angels.

'Passing children’ and precarious pathways: on the contingency of reproductive life courses in Cameroon

Pregnancy pragmatics unveiled: on bodies, bellies and power in Cameroon

Book review 'Abortion in Asia: Local Dilemmas, Global Politics'

Hiding or hospitalising? On dilemmas of pregnancy management in East Cameroon

The unfortunate sufferer: discursive dynamics around pregnancy loss in Cameroon

Complexities and contingencies conceptualized: towards a model of reproductive navigation

Current international attention to reproductive health behaviour is inspired by a western celebra... more Current international attention to reproductive health behaviour is inspired by a western celebration of individual rights, autonomous action and rational choice. A predominant idea is that individuals should be free to act in accordance with their reproductive intentions and that, in doing so, they will attain their desired (and quantifiable) fertility outcomes. Yet such a framework leads to a misrepresentation of the reproductive dynamics on the ground, because individual fertility intentions are often not a priori defined, decisions are often not the result of rational calculation and reproductive happenings do not exist in a social vacuum. This article provides sociocultural evidence for a different conceptualisation of reproductive health behaviour. On the basis of long-term anthropological fieldwork in the East Province of Cameroon, I will analyse the complexities of fertility-related decision-making. Two case studies from the field will show that reproductive happenings are often characterised by indeterminacy and contingency. In order to understand the complex ways in which women give direction to these uncertainties, I propose an encompassing framework of reproductive navigation that explicitly acknowledges the influence of sociality and corporeality on fertility aspirations and actions.

Focusing on force and forms: reproductive loss reconsidered

Dissertation review ‘The gift of cure. Childbirth injuries, clinical structures, and religious subjects in Ethiopia’

‘The vagina does not talk’: conception concealed or deliberately disclosed in Cameroon

In the East Province of Cameroon, respectable womanhood has long been intrinsically related to et... more In the East Province of Cameroon, respectable womanhood has long been intrinsically related to ethics of production and reproduction: women attain social standing through productive work in the fields and through the reproduction of children – preferably within a marital setting. Yet, in the face of current alternative ‘horizons of honour’ such as schooling, employment or relationships with rich urban men, women's intentions with regard to marriage and motherhood acquire different meanings. On their pathways to urban forms of honour, formal engagements and childbearing are often postponed, while premarital sexual encounters proliferate. This paper explores the meanings of pregnancy within the context of these fragile relationships and women's urban aspirations; fertility will be shown to be a ‘bet’ that may either disrupt or stabilize urban affairs and ambitions. As such, pregnancies can be strategically anticipated and deliberately disclosed or unexpectedly encountered and secretly disrupted. This paper sheds light on women's strategies of concealment and disclosure of pregnancies and shows that these practices are often inspired by a notion of the ‘right timing’ of particular reproductive conjunctures – a notion that is of increasing relevance in current frames of female honour in Cameroon.Dans la Province de l'Est au Cameroun, la féminité respectable est depuis longtemps intrinsèquement liée à l'éthique de la production et de la reproduction: les femmes obtiennent un statut social en travaillant de manière efficace dans les champs et en faisant des enfants – les deux, de préférence dans le cadre du mariage. Pourtant, face aux alternatives existantes pour atteindre «les horizons de l'honneur», comme la scolarité, l'emploi ou des relations avec des hommes riches dans les villes, les intentions des femmes en ce qui concerne le mariage et la maternité prennent des significations différentes. Sur la voie des définitions urbaines de l'honneur, les fiançailles formelles et la maternité sont souvent différées, alors que les rencontres sexuelles pré-maritales sont de plus en plus fréquentes. Cet article explore les significations de la grossesse dans ces contextes de relations fragiles et d'aspirations liées à la ville des femmes; il sera montré que la grossesse est un «pari» pouvant, soit perturber, soit stabiliser les liaisons ou les «ambitions urbaines». À ce titre, les grossesses peuvent être stratégiquement anticipées et délibérément dévoilées, ou se présenter de manière inattendue et être secrètement interrompues. Cet article apporte un éclairage sur les stratégies employées par les femmes pour cacher et dévoiler leurs grossesses, et montre que ces pratiques s'inspirent souvent d'une notion de «moment adéquat» pour les circonstances reproductives particulières – une notion qui est d'une pertinence croissante au regard des conceptions actuelles de l'honneur féminin au Cameroun.En la provincia este de Camerún, la condición de mujer respetable ha estado durante mucho tiempo intrínsecamente relacionada con la ética de la producción y la reproducción: las mujeres alcanzan su posición social mediante el trabajo productivo en los campos y a través de la reproducción de hijos, ambos preferiblemente dentro del matrimonio. Sin embargo, ante los actuales ‘horizontes de honor’ alternativos tales como la escuela, el empleo o las relaciones con hombres ricos de la ciudad, las intenciones de las mujeres con respecto al matrimonio y la maternidad adquieren significados diferentes. En sus trayectorias hacia formas urbanas de honor, muchas veces se posponen los compromisos formales y la maternidad mientras que proliferan los encuentros sexuales antes del matrimonio. En este artículo analizamos los significados de embarazo en el contexto de estas relaciones frágiles y las aspiraciones urbanas de las mujeres; demostramos que la fertilidad es una ‘apuesta’ que puede perturbar o estabilizar las aventuras y ambiciones en un ámbito urbano. Por este motivo, es posible que las mujeres anticipen estratégicamente los embarazos y los revelen deliberadamente, o bien que se queden embarazadas de modo inesperado e interrumpan los embarazos en secreto. En este artículo arrojamos luz sobre las estrategias de las mujeres a la hora de ocultar o revelar los embarazos y mostramos que estas prácticas están muchas veces inspiradas por la noción del ‘momento correcto’ en las coyunturas de reproducción, una noción que es cada vez más relevante en los actuales esquemas del honor femenino en Camerún.

Marginal matters: Pregnancy loss as a social event

Perils to pregnancies: on social sorrows and strategies surrounding pregnancy loss in Cameroon

This article explores the local perceptions and practices surrounding pregnancy loss in Cameroon—... more This article explores the local perceptions and practices surrounding pregnancy loss in Cameroon—a topic that has long been neglected in international reproductive health debates. Based on extended periods of anthropological fieldwork in an urban and a rural setting in the East province of the country, it shows the inherent ambiguities that underlie pregnancies and their perceived dangers. By situating meanings of pregnancy loss within the complex dynamics of marriage and kinship, pregnant bodies are argued to be social bodies—the actions and interpretations of which shift along with social situations. This approach not only forms an alternative to the current focus on the body politic in global discourses on fertility risks but also shows how conventional assumptions such as the rigid distinction between voluntary and involuntary pregnancy loss distort ambiguous daily life realities for Cameroonian women whose pregnancies are not being carried to term.

Filling with force: reproductive loss reconsidered

Introduction: medical anthropology in the Netherlands

Book review ‘Secret strategies: women and abortion in Yoruba society, Nigeria’

Zwangerschapspraktijken in Kameroen

Marginal motherhood. The ambiguous experience of pregnancy-loss in Cameroon

De buitenlander, een ander?

Wasted Wombs: Navigating Reproductive Interruptions in Cameroon. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press

Central to this book are Gbigbil women's experiences with different "reproductive interruptions":... more Central to this book are Gbigbil women's experiences with different "reproductive interruptions": miscarriages, stillbirths, child deaths, induced abortions, and infertility. Rather than consider these events as inherently dissimilar as women do in Western countries, the Gbigbil women of eastern Cameroon see them all as instances of "wasted wombs" that leave their reproductive trajectories hanging in the balance. The women must navigate this uncertainty while negotiating their social positions, aspirations for the future, and the current workings of their bodies.

Providing an intimate look into these processes, Wasted Wombs shows how Gbigbil women constantly shift their interpretations of when a pregnancy starts, what it contains, and what is lost in case of a reproductive interruption, in contrast to Western conceptions of fertility and loss. Depending on the context and on their life aspirations--be it marriage and motherhood, or an educational trajectory and employment, or profitable sexual affairs with so-called "big fish"--women negotiate and manipulate the meanings and effects of reproductive interruptions. Paradoxically, they often do so while portraying themselves as powerless. Wasted Wombs carefully analyzes such tactics in relation to the various social predicaments that emerge around reproductive interruptions, as well as the capricious workings of women's physical bodies.